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Barack Obama Rolling Stone

Obama campaign slammed over 'free' poster contest - and it's for jobs!

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By Noel Young, Correspondent

October 20, 2011 | 2 min read

Rolling Stone has taken a swipe at the Obama presidential campaign for trying to get a jobs poster FREE instead of paying a designer.

Sample poster by Obama campaign

The Obama campaign has $60 million cash in hand. "In an economy this bad, you'd think a presidential campaign that flush would be happy to pay good money for a talented designer to create a campaign poster," says writer Tim Dickinson.

He accuses the campaign of "taking a page from the Arianna Huffington book of economic exploitation." He adds, "And here's the kicker. It's a jobs poster."

The winner gets a framed copy of their own poster, signed by the president ("approximate retail value $195").

And if you don't win? Well, that's too bad, says Tim. You've not only lost the contest, you've also surrendered your intellectual property. "All submissions will become the property of Obama for America," according to the fine print.

The campaign offers potential slogans for the poster, including: "Fighting for jobs," "Get America back to work," "Made in the USA," and "Support small business."

To this list Tim suggests adding the tagline of San Francisco designer Mike Montiero: "Fuck You. Pay Me."

"The design industry has been hit as hard as a lot of other groups," Monteiro says. "We need jobs too."

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